Harry's Prohibition Bistro has been certified and trained to create Roman-style pizza Sheboygan Press


SHEBOYGAN - Move over Neapolitan-style pizza, you're no longer the trendiest pizza at Harry's Prohibition Bistro, one of Wisconsin's few restaurants certified by Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana.

That honor now goes to Roman-style pizza. A pizza so trendy that this is the first Wisconsin restaurant with staff who have earned Roman-style pizza certification from the Roman Pizza Academy in Miami. 

A pizza that requires days for the dough to rise. A pizza that's baked three times. A pizza that's cut with a scissors.

"Listen to this," says chef Adrian Latifi just before he snips through a pizza topped with imported Italian meats and Wisconsin cheese. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

Also known as pizza al taglio, this style of pie is distinguished by its light, airy and cavernous crust with a slightly crunchy yet chewy texture.

"It’s like a little pillow of air between the two crusts," says Adrian.

For now, Roman-style pizza is only available Tuesday nights. The owners of Harry's Prohibition Bistro, Adrian's father, Harry, and uncle, Avni, are looking for a location for a new restaurant that will serve Roman-style pizza exclusively. 

To get a thick crust that eats light, the dough is made in large batches with a careful eye on the temperature. If the dough gets too warm from the friction between the rotating bowl and dough hook, ice is added. 

The dough is separated into balls and proofed in cool temperatures for 72 to 100 hours. Slowing the yeast's fermentation process is the key to creating the thick but light crust.

When ready, the dough is coaxed to fill pans measuring 60x40 centimeters (about 24x16 inches). Once every centimeter of the pan is filled with dough, it either gets a smattering of red sauce or a splash of olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt.

Unlike Neapolitan-style pizza that would get topped and baked in a 900-degree wood oven in 90 seconds, this crust with just the sauce bakes in a more conventional oven for about six minutes at a "cool" 600 degrees.

After being pulled from the oven it gets topped. A classic margherita with mozzarella and fresh basil is an option. There's also a walnut pizza that eschews red sauce for a walnut puree topped with walnuts, mushrooms, fontina and cream cheeses.

How about a pizza topped with pesto and shrimp or one with black garlic, provolone, truffle cheese and truffle oil?

The Puttanesca is a spicy pizza topped with calabrese peppers and hot soppressata (a cured Italian salami). 

Regardless of toppings, all Roman-style pizzas go back into the oven for another two minutes to melt the cheese before they are removed from the pan and cut into pieces.

Scissors are used because it does a better job of preserving the crust's airy quality than traditional pizza cutters would.

Before serving, each piece gets one last blast in the oven on a hot pizza stone.

Adrian and Avni were among the first 100 chefs in the United States to earn accreditation for this style pizza from the Roman Pizza Academy. Both said they had expected some history or other classroom work, but from the moment they entered the kitchen they had their hands in the dough. Mixing, baking and cutting.

The training in September at the Miami facility was part of Adrian’s honeymoon, as it started the week after he had gotten married.

“That’s what happens when my uncle and dad are restaurateurs, you do both honeymoon and class,” Adrian said with a laugh.

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